Ricardo Linton convicted of gunning down Bradford taxi driver 20 years ago

The family of Mohammed Basharat (below) who was gunned down in the office of Little Horton Private Hire, are finally getting justice almost 20 years after the brutal and remorseless killing.

Mohammed Basharat

Linton, 45, denied murdering Mr Basharat and attempting to murder fellow taxi driver Jamshad Khan on the evening of Saturday, October 20, 2001.

• Cabbie who witnessed murder of his friend told trial of terrifying moment gunman turned weapon on him

He was found guilty by the jury at Bradford Crown Court at 10.35am today after a month-long trial.

Mr Justice Lavender will sentence him on September 27.

Linton was remanded back into custody but he is already serving a very long sentence in a US prison for murder.

After the unanimous guilty verdicts were returned by the foreman, the judge exempted the jurors from serving on a jury again for ten years unless they choose to.

During the trial, the court heard that Mr Basharat, 33, was struck by two bullets, in the head and the mouth, and died where he lay.

Prosecutor Richard Wright QC told how the gunman, wearing a green balaclava, did not speak before pointing his revolver at Mr Basharat and twice pulling the trigger causing “a devastating and inevitably fatal head injury.”

He then turned his weapon on Jamshad “Jimmy” Khan and again pulled the trigger but the gun failed.

Mr Wright said at least four shots were fired, two of which had found their mark.

The cold-blooded killing was in revenge for a road rage incident the previous day near the taxi offices on Park Lane in Bradford.

Mr Wright said the “minor and inconsequential” matter involved Mr Basharat in his green Vauxhall Cavalier cab and Linton, who was driving a white Renault Clio in the opposite direction.

The jury heard that the Clio was badly driven and Mr Basharat had to stop his vehicle to avoid it. Both drivers got out and a scuffle ensued.

“The fight was something and nothing,” Mr Wright said.

But the man driving the Clio came off worse. He ran away abandoning the car in the middle of the road.

But before he left the scene, he threatened to kill Mr Basharat, telling him he didn’t know who he was messing with. And he meant every word, Mr Wright said.

“He was willing to use a firearm to exact revenge and to execute a man in cold blood,” he told the court.

Linton was a man with a short temper who could not stand coming off second best, he said.

Mr Khan was targeted because Linton thought he could recognise him from the road rage incident.

Linton vanished from Bradford on the day Mr Basharat was murdered.

He left leaving behind his possessions, including clothing, at his flat.

“He was a man leaving in a hurry,” Mr Wright said.